


A monster among us

by frostysunflowers



Series: Of bright autumn days and things that go bump in the night [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Autumn, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 10:00:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21034430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frostysunflowers/pseuds/frostysunflowers
Summary: For Peter, the best thing about fall is the leaves.





	A monster among us

**Author's Note:**

> This is pure silliness at best, I have no other explanation or excuse!
> 
> This is for the 'monster' prompt for [ hailingstars 13 Nights of Halloween challenge. ](https://hailing-stars.tumblr.com/post/187784838464/13-nights-of-halloween)

Tony eases open the front door and walks out into the autumnal sunshine. The distant scent of bonfire is faint on the crisp air and there’s a sweet tickle of baking apples against Tony’s nose as the delicious aroma of Pepper’s apple pie follows him outside. In the dipping rays of sunlight, everything is washed with golden tones and earthy reds, dusting the world with a thrilling kind of magic that promises something special is coming. 

Which it is, Tony thinks to himself, as a car rounds the corner of the dirt track and comes to a stop on the drive. He forces himself not to rush over and adopts as much of a casual appearance as he can, even as his chest tightens with excitement at the sight of the car door flying open. 

The tightness morphs into a pleasant heat as Peter steps out, giving one of his legs a shake before raising his arms above his head in a long stretch. Tony watches him fondly before clearing his throat pointedly. 

Peter drops his arms and gives Tony a sheepish grin before rushing towards him, narrowly avoiding bumping into Happy as he exits the car. 

Tony opens his arms wide, tensing his legs to brace for impact, the smile on his face growing wide as Peter draws close - 

Then Peter flies past with him with a euphoric yell and dives headfirst into the gigantic heap of leaves sitting just beside the porch steps. Tony lowers his arms and slowly turns to level an incredulous stare at the curly head poking out from amongst the mess of autumn colours.

''Ohhh man,'' Peter groans, wiggling to the top before toppling back again, arms and legs moving back and forth in slow, exaggerated sweeps that make the leaves rustle and crunch loudly. 

''He hasn’t stopped talking about the damn leaves for the entire drive,'' Happy grouses as he comes to stand beside Tony, Peter’s weekend bag slung over his shoulder. ''Did you know that leaf colour depends on which species of tree it came from?''

Tony glances at him. ''Yeah, I knew that.''

Happy glowers at him. ''Well, I didn’t. And I was happier not knowing.''

''No you weren’t,'' Peter singsongs, body once again sinking fully back into the pile, leaving only his head visible. 

Happy’s face twitches with a smile before he stalks towards the house, the air of grumpiness fooling nobody. 

''Anyone would think you’d never seen leaves before,'' Tony remarks, eyeing Peter with undeniable warmth in his eyes. 

''You don’t get stuff like this in the city, Mister Stark.''

''The park has leaves.''

Peter rolls his eyes. ''Not the same. This is all for me,'' he sighs happily and throws his arms up, sending leaves flying into the air with a laugh. 

''You know how long it took me to rake all of this up, huh? Nearly two hours and here you are, making a mess of it.''

Brown eyes widen at him, turning soft and innocent and Tony instantly turns his back. ''Nope! None of that! Not gonna work on me this time, Underoos.''

''Oh, come on, Mister - whoa, what the…Ow!''

Tony looks to see Peter’s upper body jerk out of the leaves, arms held out to the side as he looks around suspiciously. 

''Something just bit me.''

''Bit you?'' Tony laughs. ''Where?''

''On my…'' Peter blushes and then scowls, making Tony laugh even more. ''Does it matter? Something bit me!''

''Let’s just hope it wasn’t another spider.''

''Funny.''

''I’m serious. Who knows what weird, freaky, spidery things may occur if another - ''

Peter gives a terrified shriek and shoots into the air. Tony barely has time to throw his arms out before Peter is on him, hanging off his side and wrapping his arms and legs around Tony's torso in a tight squeeze. Tony impresses himself by managing to remain upright even as the kid continues to scramble up him, hands plucking bruisingly at his upper arms and feet snagging uncomfortably against his skin through his clothes. 

''I’m never coming here again,'' Peter jabbers as he moves, ''you’ve got monsters living in your leaf piles._ Not _cool.''

''Kid, can you - Ow! That was - hey!'' Tony grunts loudly as a knee catches him in the ribs. He manages to lock an arm around one of Peter’s legs and holds it still. ''This is not how we handle this.’’

''Oh, really? Sorry, I don’t know what the protocol is for handling something that hides in piles of leaves and bites people!''

The last few words are spoken in a rushed hiss and Tony rolls his eyes. ''You’re enhanced, kid. I’m pretty sure you can take whatever you think is hiding in - ''

He steps back with a surprised curse as the leaves rustle and move like a wave. A low growl comes from within the colourful mountain before it shakes again. 

''Okay,'' Tony murmurs, ''that’s definitely not a spider.''

''Could still be a monster.''

''Kid, there’s no such thing as monsters.''

''Someone said that about aliens before,'' Peter insists petulantly.

A pair of fuzzy grey ears suddenly poke out from the heap, one twitching as a single leaf clings stubbornly to the tip. Then a head appears, revealing large eyes and buck teeth at the end of a short snout. 

''Gerald!'' Tony barks just as Peter mumbles a disbelieving ''oh my god'' into Tony’s shoulder. ''Get outta there!''

Gerald grumpily bleats at him and wriggles his way lower into the heap, nose sticking out at a comical point. 

''Guess he doesn’t want to share.''

''Rude,'' Peter says, sliding down so that his feet touch the ground. ''I thought he liked me.''

''Don’t take it personally, bud. You can’t come between an alpaca and his leaf pile.''

Gerald’s head comes up again and he snorts at them. 

''There, see?'' Tony claps Peter on the back. ''He said sorry.''

Peter rolls his eyes and stomps towards the house. ''He ruined my leaf diving fun. I’m not ready to forgive him yet.''

''Looks like you’re in the doghouse,'' Tony says to Gerald who promptly buries his face back in the leaves again.

**Author's Note:**

> I swear I will write something substantial soon haha...hopefully. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
